Forty people attend public reading of novel in progress

Musicians, actors, and writers from the artistic community of Huron County, and beyond, donated their time by taking part at a public reading of a new novel (in development). The reading took place at the Candlelight Restaurant and Tavern in Goderich, Ontario, Canada on December 17, 2012 and 40 interested people attended. The novel is to be called Upturn and the release of the book is planned for 2017. For more information visit climatechangenovel.com Those who attended the reading demonstrated enthusiasm for the prose of the novel, the characters, the story, and the powerful theme and burning question behind the work. Thanks to the musicians and readers from Ontario's West Coast who made the story come alive. Contact Colbourn Publishers to pre-order the novel.About the author

Timothy Colbourn Cumming is a professional communicator and former journalist and teacher. Tim wrote The Tiger’s Lion, a dramatic tribute to Goderich co-founder John Galt. Audiences enthusiastically greeted the play when it was staged by the Goderich Little Theatre at The Livery in 2003.

More than ten years after the staging of that play, Cumming hopes to self-publish a new novel, Upturn, through his new sole-proprietorship publishing firm, Colbourn Publishers. The book is to be called Upturn and it will be marketed as http://www.climatechangenovel.com and interested readers can find out about the book at the website of that name.

Cumming was inspired to begin writing his novel-in-progress after reading an Internet posting in 2005 that said, “I think many people would prefer death to living underground forever.” He thought this was a provocative question for humankind as it confronts unprecedented warming trends, weather extremes, population explosions, and a world increasingly moulded by technology. The local man was also deeply affected by a symposium on the effects of climate change that the Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation held at the Huron County Museum several years ago. The Goderich resident’s thinking and writing, on the effects of climate change, since that time have resulted in more than 365,000 words of the first draft of a novel. He explained why he held a public reading in 2012. “Firstly, I want to see if people are as excited about this story and these characters as I am,” Cumming said. “Secondly, I hope this book will be an electric charge to energize thought and debate about where we want to go as a people.”

The book (in development) is, on one level, a science fiction story about a future world where humanity is re-imagined inside the Earth, and people still dream of making it back to the surface to breathe fresh air and feel sun on their faces. The book is, on another level, an essay asking citizens what kind of society we want in the future and what we are willing to do to prevent the apocalyptic vision detailed in the story. The novel may be seen as a story of hope or it may also be read as a much-needed wake-up call.

Local Ontario's West Coast musicians and readers made the story come alive in late 2012 at a public reading held at the Candlelight Restaurant in Goderich, Ontario, Canada. Cumming said people are encouraged to donate to efforts that mitigate climate change and work that supports watershed resiliency and adaptation to climate change. One avenue is through this local website: Carbon Footprints to Forests.